Hearing Voices World Congress in Boston

Hearing Voices World Congress is coming to the United States this summer and it’s going to be awesome. The Hearing Voices World Congress is an annual international meeting for people interested in the Hearing Voices Movement. The meeting has always been held in places quite remote for North Americans… Paris (2016), Spain (2015), Greece (2014), Australia (2013), Wales (2012), Italy (2011), England (2010) and the Netherlands (2009)… but this year it’s located right in our own backyard… BOSTON!

What makes the conference so special this year?

Aside from being the first time the Congress has ventured to American shores, the Hearing Voices World Congress planning committee has gathered together a bunch really excellent Keynote Speakers including (but not at all limited to…)

Reshma Valliappan (aka Val Resh): An artist-advocate for a number of issues related to mental health, disability, sexuality and human rights. Val Resh is the protagonist of the Public Service Broadcasting Trust PSBT documentary A Drop of Sunshine which is based on her true story of recovery and living with schizophrenia without medications. Being compared to John Forbes Nash as ‘A beautiful mind, yet again’ she is a creationist with a beat of her own.

Gogo Ekhaya Esima: An initiated Sangoma Traditional Healer in the Zulu culture of South Africa, certified Peer Recovery Specialist in mental health, trauma survivor, and a spiritual teacher. Gogo Ekhaya is as strong advocate for challenging standardized mental health concepts in America, her work has appeared in the edited collection, “Women & Psychosis:Multidisciplinary Perspectives”, and her shamanic journey of healing and recovery is featured in the documentary CRAZYWISE. Her gifts include seeing and hearing voices of the ancestors, mediumship, and earth based medicinal healing. Gogo Ekhaya has a full-time shamanic healing practice in Southern California.

David Walker, Ph.D.: A liberation psychologist, writer, and musician. Since 2000, he’s consulted with the Fourteen Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation in central Washington, while his personal connections to Indian Country reach back to his childhood and Missouri Cherokee heritage. His recent critiques and historical analyses of the U.S. mental health system’s checkered role with Native Americans for Indian Country Today (ICT) are both well-regarded and controversial.

The conference will also feature workshops and plenty of time to interact with people from around the world interested in growing compassionate approaches to understanding hearing voices, seeing visions and other unusual experiences.

Things kick off with a FREE event on INTERVOICE DAY:

Wednesday August 16th 2017

9-4:30pm

Description: A day for people involved in the Hearing Voices Movement to come together, share experiences and hear about new initiatives around the world. Featuring: speakers, open space discussions about topics decided by attendees and the chance to share what’s happening in Hearing Voices Networks in your country.

Metcalf Hall,

George Sherman Union,

Boston University Campus,

775 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA

Then, starting Thursday August 17th and continuing until August 18th is the official Congress. Registration is now open!

See you there!

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About Marie C. Hansen

Marie C. Hansen, MA is a doctoral candidate in Clinical Psychology at Long Island University Brooklyn. She is a co-founder of Hearing Voices Network New York City and chair of the ISPS-US Student and Early Career Committee. Her scholarly and research interests include integrative (CBT/psychodynamic) approaches to psychosis, peer support and postpartum psychosis.